Thank you for your service! Outgoing Board Members Summer 2019

June 30, 2019

Founding member Harry Dickinson has served on The Community Foundation board for 17 years. He served as President (09/10), Treasurer (97/98, 06/07, 07/08, 11/12, 16/17), Chair of the Finance Committee and committee member. He has spent hundreds of hours guiding staff and board members through the intricacies of community foundation accounting. His attention is evident in the foundation’s consistently high marks for financial oversight at audit time.

Harry and his family established the Harry and Marie Dawideit Fund and the Christine and Will Dickinson Memorial Scholarship Fund at The Community Foundation in memory of his grandparents.

The only entity to receive more of Harry’s dedication and focus than The Community Foundation is his new granddaughter. May your retirement from the foundation board grant you many hours of grandfatherly bliss!

Founding board member and two-time past President (97/98 and 98/99), Treasurer and Secretary, Leigh Frackelton celebrated his 19th year of board service to The Community Foundation. His legal and financial advice has been both formative and sustaining for The Community Foundation.

Leigh served as Chair of the Scholarship Committee for 7 years as it grew from $35,000 to more than $140,000 in annual distributions.

Leigh was instrumental in establishing two of the foundations most significant funds. Thanks to Leigh’s role in the Duff McDuff Green, Jr. Fund and the Honeywell Charitable Fund, The Community Foundation has awarded millions of dollars to deserving nonprofit organizations over the past 10 years.

May your retirement from the foundation board grant you as much time on the Chris Craft as you desire!

In Mike Kennison’s own words, “I serve on The Community Foundation board because I’ve witnessed the impact this organization has on our local community. The Foundation offers a means by which donors of all levels can support local charities that line up with their own values and interests.“

Mike served on the foundation board for six years, from 2013 to 2019. He led the Audit Committee in 2018/2019. While on the committee, he helped establish the foundation’s first Audit Committee charter/guidelines, ensuring orderly direction for future committees and finance staff in one of our most critical processes. His consistent dedication and engagement with the Finance Committee was a big part of our success these past few years, as well.

Ben Maxwell has the best tailor of any foundation board member. Ben has been a diligent and willing board member since joining the foundation in 2013. He has been most active on the Investment Committee and served as its Chair in 2017/2018 and 2018/2019. He was a game Marketing Committee member, eager to help recruit sponsors and plan the fun for Ring in the Holidays. He was an active grant reviewer on the Donor Services Committee, serving as its Chair from 2015 to 2017, and also served on the Scholarship Committee and Fund Development Committee during his tenure.

Ben’s referrals led to new foundation funds like the Salvas Fund, which supports Women and Girls Fund grantmaking. Ben’s wife, Stephanie is a Women and Girls Fund member and we fully expect his children to be YIP leaders in the future!

Thank you, Ben.

Mary Jane O’Neill has been a foundation leader for more than 10 years, serving as a board member from 2008 to 2012 and again from 2013 to 2019. She has served on the Donor Services, Youth in Philanthropy and Fund Development Committees. She has been instrumental in our notable advances in organizational capacity and is a leader in the Women & Girls Fund.

Mary Jane O’Neill is so active with The Community Foundation she has been featured in an article in nearly every newsletter while on the board! For example, last year, she donated her Cullen, Inc. headquarters building at 530 Princess Anne Street to the foundation. Proceeds from its sale supported The Community Fund and The Community Foundation Endowment Fund.

Mary Jane opened the Robert Cullen O’Neill Memorial Fund in 2009. It supports the kinds of organizations her late husband so effectively championed. Her O’Neill Family Legacy Fund supports targeted grantmaking through The Community Fund, as well as the overall organizational capacity of The Community Foundation. The O’Neill Fund for the Stewardship of Historic Resources champions and protects the places that tell the stories of our community’s past.